Li Lianying revealed the cause of Cixi's death, not illness
On February 12, 1912, the rule of the Qing Dynasty came to an end. On this day, the Empress Dowager Longyu replaced Pu Yi, who was only 6 years old, and signed and sealed the "Edict of Abdication of the Qing Emperor", ending the 296-year reign of the Qing Dynasty.
If the Empress Dowager Cixi could foresee this result, she would probably jump out of the grave in anger and blame the Empress Dowager Longyu and Pu Yi for not keeping the country laid down by their ancestors.
However, the fall of the Qing Dynasty was closely related to the Empress Dowager Cixi. During the reign of Tongzhi, despite financial constraints, the Empress Dowager Cixi acquiesced to Emperor Tongzhi spending huge sums of money to repair the Old Summer Palace.
In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out, but the Empress Dowager Cixi signed the "Sino-French New Treaty" because of a temporary success, which damaged the interests of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1894, in order to celebrate her 60th birthday, the Empress Dowager Cixi embezzled naval funds and wasted them extravagantly, which was extremely luxurious. In 1898, in order to protect the interests of the ruling class, the Empress Dowager Cixi intervened in politics again, put the Guangxu Emperor under house arrest, and executed the six gentlemen of Wuxu.
These actions were all mistakes made by the Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1908, the Empress Dowager Cixi died of illness in the Yiluan Hall in the Forbidden City. However, Li Lianying's sister revealed the real cause of death ...... Empress Dowager CixiEmpress Dowager Cixi's biological son died early, and Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne.
During the reign of Emperor Xianfeng, the Empress Dowager Cixi was an ordinary nobleman, but because of her beauty and gentle personality, she quickly won the favor of Emperor Xianfeng. The Empress Dowager Cixi was also very competitive, and in 1856 she gave birth to her only son, Zaichun, for Emperor Xianfeng.
In the harem, the Empress Dowager Cixi continued to improve with her son's status.
From Lan Guiren to Yi Concubine, and then from Yi Concubine to Yi Concubine, and then to Yi Guifei, she became the most powerful woman in the harem except for the queen Niu Hulu. In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng died in Rehe, and Jaechun naturally became the new emperor.
However, as a mother, Cixi should have been the happiest person, but this was not the case. Because Jaechun is still young, Cixi is already ready to listen to the government, which is exactly what she desires.
As early as when he replaced the seriously ill Emperor Xianfeng to review and manage government affairs, Cixi had a thirst for power in her heart. Emperor Xianfeng knew this, and when he was dying, he specially canonized the eight ministers of Gu Ming to assist the young emperor, so as to keep Cixi away from the center of power.
Cixi was dissatisfied with the seizure of power, and joined forces with Yi to launch the Xinyou coup, control the eight ministers, and start a career of listening to politics. Her iron-fisted methods made the Qing Dynasty appear a stable situation of "Tongzhi Zhongxing", but it also aroused the jealousy of the Tongzhi Emperor.
In order to be pro-government, Emperor Tongzhi tried every possible way, and finally in 1837, although the Empress Dowager Cixi no longer listened to the government, the real power was still firmly controlled by her.
In order to stabilize the state power, the Empress Dowager Cixi decided to inherit the throne by Zai Xiang, the son of Prince Yixun, and became the Guangxu Emperor. However, Emperor Guangxu was young, and the Empress Dowager Cixi had to listen to the government again.
The relationship between Emperor Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi was full of contradictions and struggles, and the Empress Dowager Cixi restrained him for a long time. When Emperor Guangxu reached the age of the queen, the Empress Dowager Cixi established Jingfen as the empress in order to stabilize her power, and was known as Empress Longyu in history.
Emperor Guangxu's cousin Longyu, there is only family affection between the two, and there is no love between men and women. The Empress Dowager Cixi only cared about power, and she tried to improve the relationship between Guangxu and Longyu, but she was never successful.
At this time, Emperor Guangxu fell in love with Concubine Zhen, who had just entered the palace, and Concubine Zhen also loved him deeply. Concubine Zhen's liveliness and vigor infected Emperor Guangxu and made his life full of color.
However, in the harem of deceit, open and secret fighting, it is difficult for their love to be blessed.
Empress Dowager Cixi was extremely angry that Emperor Guangxu was gradually leaving her control under the influence of Concubine Zhen. So, she decided to put Concubine Zhen to death. In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi killed Concubine Zhen when she fled, and then concealed the matter and fled with the Guangxu Emperor.
Emperor Guangxu, who learned the truth, was in pain, but he was powerless to change it, because he was just a puppet emperor and had no real power in his hands. Restrain each other, and both sides lose. Emperor Guangxu had tried to break free from the control of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and he actively tried.
In 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and the Qing Dynasty was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan, which was a treaty that humiliated the country.
When the news reached China, the whole country was filled with righteous indignation. In Beijing, two men, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, joined hands to lead more than 1,300 people to initiate a bus to write a book, calling on Emperor Guangxu to actively reform, turn the tide, and save China from fire and water.
After reading the recitals of Kang Liang and others, Emperor Guangxu was very excited in his heart and decided to mobilize the whole country to open the road of reform. However, on many key issues of the reform plan, there was a conflict with the interests of the ruling class.
In order to protect her own rights and interests, the Empress Dowager Cixi intervened again, which put the process of changing the law in a difficult situation. In the end, Emperor Guangxu was forced to be confined in Yingtai, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao chose to flee, and the six gentlemen of Wuxu led by Tan Sitong were generous and sacrificed their lives for the cause of changing the law.
After the failure of Emperor Guangxu's reform, his health deteriorated, and he died of illness in 1908 at the age of 38. A month after his death, Cixi also died at the age of 73.
Although it has always been believed that Cixi died of illness, in fact, the real cause of her death was poisoning by the Guangxu Emperor. Back then, in order to better control Emperor Guangxu, Cixi secretly let people put chronic poison in his meals, causing his health to gradually deteriorate.
Using this as an excuse, Cixi has always held real power into her own hands.
Although the Empress Dowager Cixi did not notice it until her death, in fact, Emperor Guangxu had already set up a plan to poison her in reverse. Due to her advanced age and poor health, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not escape this catastrophe after all.
Cixi's death was not only because of old age and illness, but also because of the poison of Emperor Guangxu. As Cixi's personal eunuch, Li Lianying knew the real cause of her death well.
After Cixi's death, Li Lianying left the palace and returned home and told her sister the truth about the matter. Although there is no conclusive evidence that Cixi was poisoned to death by Emperor Guangxu, it is certain that Emperor Guangxu also tried his best to get rid of Cixi's control and take it off"Puppet Emperor"hats.